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Fewer Edits In YTV Feature Presentations?
Wraparounds With Stephanie Beard In Japan!
YTV of Canada was the first network to present the English dubbed versions of the Sailor Moon features. The network ran all 3 on Canada's Thanksgiving Day (and School Holiday) of Monday, October 8, 2001. "Sailor Moon R" (SMR) was scheduled to run at (Atlantic & Pacific Time) 2pm, "Sailor Moon S" (SMS) at 3pm and "Sailor Moon SuperS" (SMSS) at 4pm.
The Cartoon Network in the United States is in the process of presenting these same features and it appears to some of us that they might be making more edits (for censorship reasons and to make more room for commercials) than with YTV's airing. (Only a side-by-side comparison will tell.) It appears, that in it's haste, YTV did not know or consider that the features really do run an hour each and that a broadcast version (with space for commercials) was not yet available or could be obtained. More on this below.
Stephanie Beard in Japan introducing the 3
Sailor Moon features. (Sorry but these images were shot right off a TV
and were not pulled from tape.) |
Canadian viewers also had the special benefit of seeing recent, specially shot live-action wraparounds with Stephanie Beard in Japan. Ironically, Stephanie (the new voice of Rini) did not perform in the features she presented. No longer a morning-drive DJ on Toronto's KISS 92 fm, YTV viewers know Stephanie as "Sugar On The Zone" as she is one of the current co-hosts of "The Zone" (one of the most important blocks of weekly programming on the network).
Stephanie with girls dressed in their school
uniforms which are called "seifuku." Sailor Moon's outfit was based on the
seifuku (and not the other way around). |
The wraparounds showed Ms. Beard in a variety of locations speaking English to (what appeared to be) random Japanese people the crew found on the street. Some of the Japanese seemed to not understand her at all so this footage did not come off as interviews. One Canadian viewer related, "... You know how japanese school uniforms look a lot like sailor suits, right? well.. there is this one clip of her, walking with 4 schoolgirls, and she says they are dressed that way because sailor moon is the hottest series in japan. you could soo tell the girls had no idea what she was saying. i didn't know whether to laugh or to cry."
While Stephanie may not have been all that familiar with Japan or with the original series, it seemed to us that Canadian viewers truly appreciated these wraparounds since there has been so little contact between the English Sailor Moon world and the original Japanese one. How often has anyone connected with the English version even gone to Japan? Most fans loved this interaction and seem to want more.
Ms. Beard at the Meiji Shrine (with a
Pikachu) introducing an hour of Pokemon (but shown at the wrong time). |
Normally wraparounds introduce or close out segments of programming (you know, right after or before a commercial) and YTV did indeed do that but up to an hour later than scheduled. The features started at 2pm but some (if not all) of the wraparounds seemed to be out of sync with the programming. Ms. Beard could still be seen talking about the SMSS movie during the next program, a "Pokemon-athon." This juggling might have been intentional if the network ran out of time to make more cuts to SMR & SMS and make room for the wraparounds.
But this is a small price to pay when less censorship is practiced. Here now are excerpts of one viewer's report of what was (and wasn't) notably cut!
Feature Titles & Closing Credits
The opening Feature Titles for all three movies was the one used in the
edited versions. You can view these on the DVDs in the "Extras" window.
The ending credits were shown across a cg animation of a moon going across the screen. (Very nice!)
Sailor Moon R Movie
No commercials.
Noteworthy Cuts or Deletions:
- The opening animation sequence where the Scouts were introduced.
- Serena's flashback at Raye's temple where she and Darien were talking at his apartment about his parents. Completely deleted!
- In the scene where Serena and Rini crash into the restaurant they kept the part with Rini plugging up Serena's nose with tissue paper but cut the part where Rini covers up Serena's mouth. Instead it went straight to the scene where Serena screams to Rini "Are you trying to kill me?"
- Some editing of the nudity scenes towards the end of the movie and the last hospital flashback was shortened a little.
Surprisingly left in:
- Fiore and Darien (as children) in the same bed.
- Rini points (what looks like) a real gun at Serena.
Sailor Moon S Movie
No commercials.
Unlike the first movie, the second one had a lot less edits.
However...
Noteworthy Cuts or Deletions:
- The opening animation sequence where the Snow Queen reveals that she wants to freeze the world.
- When Raye and Serena start fighting about Luna running away, Serena tries to explain herself (with Japanese text on screen) was totally cut out. They cut straight to the who-can-stick-out-their- tongue-for-the-longest competition.
- Luna kissing Dr. Kakeru and then goes running down the hill.
Sailor Moon SuperS Movie
Presented with commercials.
Noteworthy Cuts or Deletions:
- The opening animation sequence where all the children in a small town are led away.
- Serena slapping Rini. (They showed Serena about to slap but cut the actual contact scene out and then went to Rini asking "What do you think you're doing?")
- When the Scouts lose their powers they start to turn white but where they dissolve into tye-dye colors was cut.
- Then when the Scouts transformed back, they went from being totally ghost white before eventually returning to their normal color. (Again avoiding the tye-dye colors.)
Surprisingly left in:
- The musical chant of the hypnotized children was kept in Japanese (as it was in the English Home Video releases).
